Here's a worksheet to calculate how much child support should be exchaged between the parties. In Florida we have child support guidelines, ie. a statutory formula for determining child support. (Click here to read about the basics of child support.). The Florida child support worksheet can be printed out using your web browser. (Click here to see the Florida Child Support Statute which defines such things as "Net Income". Note that where each parent spends a "substantial" amount of time with the children or a parent spends a "significant"amount of time with the children there can be a deviation from the child support guidelines. Where each parent spends a"substantial" amount of time, the child support worksheet from our Florida forms page should be used. (see belowfor additional explanation)
1. Father's net monthly income $__________________
2. Mother's net monthly income $_________________
3. Combined net monthly income $________________
4. There is (are) {number}____ minor child(ren) common to the parties.
Click here to go to the child support guidelines. Scroll all the way down to the column of numbers and find your combined net monthly income. (Be patient, the guidelines take a minute to load) Hit the "Back" button of your browser when done.The chart will tell you the total child support amount for both parents, based upon the number of children you have.
5. Enter the total child support amount here.$___________
6. Divide the Father's net monthly income by the combined net monthly income to get Father's percentage of financial responsibility, and put answer here. $___________
7. Divide the Mother's net monthly income by the combined net monthly income to get Mother's percentage of financial responsibility, and put answer here. $___________
8. Multiply the total child support amount by the Father's percentage of financial responsibility to get Father's basic support obligation. Enter number here. $____________
9. Multiply the total child support amount by the Mother's percentage of financial responsibility to get Mother's basic support obligation. Enter number here. $____________
10. Multiply the Father's percentage of financial responsibility times the daycare expense to get the father's share of the daycare expense, and enter number here. $_____________
11. Multiply the Mother's percentage of financial responsibility times the daycare expense to get the mother's share of the daycare expense, and enter number here. $_______
12. Enter the amoung spent on health insurance for the child(ren). $_____________
13. Multiply the above health insurance amount times the Father's percentage of financial responsibility to get the Father's share of health insurance obligation. $___________
14. Multiply the above health insurance amount times the Mother's percentage of financial responsibility to get the Mother's share of health insurance obligation. $___________
15. Add amounts from lines 8, 11 and 14 to get the Father's support obligation and enter amount here. $____________
16. Add amounts from lines 9, 12 and 15 to get the Mother's support obligation and enter amount here. $____________
Note that the Florida child support statute indicates when there can be a deviation from the child support guidelines. (Such as when each parent spends a "substantial" amount of time with the children or one parent spends a "significant" amount of time with the children, or conversely when one parent does not spend much time with children. And there is also the question of whether the existence of "subsequent" children (ie.children living with a parent who were born or adopted after the support obligation arose) is justification to deviate from the child support guidelines.
